Southern Railway and Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) are locked in yet another dispute. In a letter on February 8, CMRL accused the central government department of encroaching 2,680 sqft of its land on Tiruvottiyur High Road near Wimco Nagar playground.
This comes two months after Southern Railway issued a notice to CMRL over taking control of railway land beside Egmore station. Railway officials, who requested anonymity, said the latest action of CMRL appeared similar to a tit-for-tat battle between both transportation agencies.
In the letter to the chief administrative officer (CAO), construction, CMRL alleged that Southern Railway has unauthorizedly occupied its land by laying a track foundation and erecting an overhead electric line post in block number 14, ward-C, in Tiruvottiyur town.
The letter written by the estate officer and joint general manager (JGM) of CMRL, is a notice under Section (4) of Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, which has asked the railway to explain its stand on or before February 24 and threatened to evict it. The encroachment is 3.6 metres on the north side, 2.2 metres on the south and 35.8, 28.2 and 22.6 metres on the east and the west side. The total area is 240sqm or 2,680sqft.
“In the Egmore issue in December, railways had publicly pasted a notice for everyone to see,” the source said. Earlier also, Southern Railway and CMRL have had issues over payment of dues with regard to their lines criss-crossing each other’s property. In fact, a retired top SR official was appointed by CMRL as a consultant to iron out differences with his erstwhile department, said railway sources.